


Tumbling

by HYPERFocused



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Challenge Response, Character Study, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-21 15:10:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1554776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HYPERFocused/pseuds/HYPERFocused
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing about geodes was, they didn’t look like much when you first observed them, but take a hammer to them, and a world of crystalline beauty would be revealed.<br/>Sometimes John thought Rodney was just the same. You might not look at him twice if you happened by him on the base, but once you knew what was inside him, he could never appear anything but spectacular to you.</p>
<p>John (Rodney)and rock tumblers.(Not tumblrs that rock)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tumbling

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Originally written 8/27/2005 for the Personal Item challenge at SGA_Flashfic.

It had taken John a long time to admit to himself that the decision to come to Atlantis was made almost immediately. Despite the coin tossing, the sleepless nights, and the self-doubt, he knew there was no way he’d miss making the journey.

What _had_ been difficult, was deciding what to bring with him. There was no way on Earth (or even off) he could limit it to just one thing. He was pretty sure nobody else would, either. As long as he kept his items small, he figured he’d be all right. In fact, if they were small enough, nobody would even notice.

The book was going to be his one exception. Yes, he could have just read the damn thing on his PDA, or whatever form the science geeks had collected the tons of literature they’d had set up for reading on Atlantis. But John liked paper. It felt like an accomplishment to turn actual pages. Anyway, the book wouldn’t be just for him. Once he finished it, he’d pass it on. That he was only likely to finish War and Peace because he’d be in another Galaxy with a lot of time on his hands and no new football games to watch was a thought that wasn’t lost on him.

John had always loved going to rock shops with his mother, both of them attracted to the varied bright colors and weights of the smooth stones.

She liked gluing silver jewelry findings onto the pieces to make dramatic pendants and pins, and he liked carrying the loose stones in his pocket to hear the rattle they made, and feel their coolness in his palm.

The rock tumbler had been a gift from his mother for his ninth birthday.“Now you can do it all yourself, John. Won’t that be fun? To see it go from something you’d pick up outside, to something beautiful?” She beamed at him when he opened the heavy box and pulled out the weird machine.

He did think that would be cool, at least until he read the directions and saw it could take _weeks_ for the dull rocks to turn pretty. That was a hell of a lot of patience for a kid.

“It’ll be a good lesson, son,” his father said. He liked to turn everything into something John should be learning. Leave it to him to make even a birthday gift into work. “Everything that’s worth doing takes time.” The intricate model airplane kit he’d bought would take time too. Sure, he loved planes, was counting the months until he’d be old enough for flying lessons, but John had really been hoping for a skateboard.

His dad sent him unfinished treasures from his travels around the world, not telling John what they were, and expecting John to report back what he’d discovered.

It turned out to be kind of a good thing, helping to keep his mind off his loneliness. He’d follow the instructions, and by the time his dad was back in town, there would be something new to show him. A chance to prove himself capable of perseverance, sticking to something and making his father proud. It was funny how much that mattered, then.

Of course John couldn’t bring the tumbler with him to Atlantis, even if it did still work. Besides, there was probably something in all of the scientific equipment that would do a similar job in minutes.

But he could bring some of his favorite polished stones, as well as a few of the rough minerals he’d collected over the years. The book and the tape were cultural mementos. But the stones would be reminders of the Earth itself. John filled his pockets with the memories of the home he quite possibly would never see again.

* * *

He missed the Earth, of course, thinking of it as a whole instead of the specific places he’d left as soon as the “We’re in a different galaxy” thing really hit him. But life on Atlantis was a mix of beyond words exciting, and beyond boredom mundane.

It didn’t take nearly as long as John had anticipated for Atlantis to start feeling like the place he belonged, or for Rodney to be the one who most belonged with him.

John gave him the geode the first time they had sex together, hours after they’d gone at each other in a different way. He’d forgotten what the argument was about, but the moment things changed from ‘I’m so pissed I’ve got to push you against the wall’ to ‘I want you so much I’ve got to push you against the wall’ is one he’ll never forget.

* * *

The thing you had to learn about geodes was, they didn’t look like much when you first observed them, but take a hammer to them, and a world of crystalline beauty would be revealed.

Sometimes John thought Rodney was just the same. You might not look at him twice if you happened by him on the base, but once you knew what was inside him, he could never appear anything but spectacular to you.

Rodney was sharp, and bright, and could be cutting if he rubbed up against you the right way, but he was also fascinating and brilliant. It all depended on one’s perspective.

It’s not that John wanted to take a hammer to Rodney, tempting though it might be at certain times. No one on this planet or any other could be quite so exasperating, it was just that Rodney made him _feel_ so much, that -- much like a geode -- it was cracking him wide open.

Other times, the feelings were more peaceful between them, if no less strong. The blue-green of the ocean view out their window reminded him of turquoise. The paler cloud-dotted sky was like blue lace agate. He thought of the permanence of petrified wood, the clarity of quartz, and the two of them working things out, making up no matter how long it took. Tumbling together, slow and beautiful.


End file.
